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| ScienceMag.org Article; Human impact on the environment | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 11 2006, 07:45 AM (89 Views) | |
| Aqua Letifer | Aug 11 2006, 07:45 AM Post #1 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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Part of the discussion in the Inconvenient Truth thread got me thinking about this article from Science. I took the liberty of transcribing some of it, in case anyone would be interested. I posted a link at the bottom for its supplemental materials, but I'm afraid I can't get a free access link to the actual article. I can e-mail it to anyone who would be interested, though. The article basically forms two conclusions: 1) Since the beginning of human civilization, every coastal and estuarine ecosystem that houses a human population has been subject to severe degredation. 2) The degree of degredation is independent of system size, species richness, primary productivity, as well as human population and growth rate. It is entirely dependent on human stressors, or how much we're actually using the land. So, in short, human beings are responsible for the degredation of most ecosystems on the planet, but it's not a foregone conclusion that the introduction of a human population will deplete the local environment. We have the ability to be less harmful. Anyway, in case anyone's interested:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5781/1806/DC1 |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| The 89th Key | Aug 11 2006, 07:55 AM Post #2 |
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Reminds me of "Collapse", the book. Kinda... |
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| sue | Aug 11 2006, 08:16 AM Post #3 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Good news. We have the ability to be less harmful, unfortunately we also have the abilitly to totally f*ck things up. Let's hope we do the right thing more often than not. |
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10:45 PM Jul 12